Figures disclosed by Hard Rock's parent, Rank Group Plc of London, show the restaurant chain's operating profit of $21.4 million was down 37% in the first six months from the same period a year ago.

Sales of $176.2 million were off 5%. Company-owned restaurants were down 6.3% in same-store sales. Merchandise revenue was off 12.3%. Much of the total lowered sales volume was at restaurants in Orlando, New York, Washington, DC and Hollywood, CA.

Total North American sales for the company, however, were down only 1.5% in the first half. European Hard Rock restaurants were down 11.9% with tourist-dependent markets of Paris, London and Rome showing the steepest declines, the company reports.

The company operates 111 restaurants in 41 countries, 61 of them company-owned and 50 franchised. Until last year, Hard Rock was averaging total annual revenue of $400 million, the company has previously disclosed.

Hard Rock CEO Peter Beaudrault couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline. But restaurant staffers tell GlobeSt.com the company's eight new projects remain on track.

They are Hard Rock Vault which will house a portion of the company's $32 million music memorabilia collection, scheduled to open in Orlando in December; a Hard Rock Casino in London, complementing a recently opened casino in Manchester; a Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago; restaurants in Minneapolis and Cologne, Germany; and two hotel-casino ventures being completed in Tampa, FL and Hollywood, FL.

Rank Group common opened today on the Nasdaq at $7.99 per share, down 5.8% from $8.48 Sept. 4. The company's 52-week high-low is $8.80 and $4.40 per share. There are 296 million shares outstanding. Rank has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion. The stock's price/earnings ratio is 15.08.

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Hard Rock Plans Expansion Despite Dip in Sales, Operating Profit

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